


i'm late, too

by mechuri



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 14:25:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15075071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mechuri/pseuds/mechuri
Summary: yukhei’s laugh says that johnny should have known this for a while.





	i'm late, too

**Author's Note:**

> title from "i really like it" by our girl. alternate title: 4 times johnny was late and 1 time yukhei (literally) was.

“i’m hungry.”

johnny’s arm is tucked underneath yukhei’s ribcage, slowly losing all feeling and probably bruising.

“i don’t care, man,” yukhei whines in english, his voice cracking the way it always does when he does his weird voices. “don’t wanna move.”

yukhei has his head tucked into johnny’s neck and one of his arms slung around johnny’s middle. their legs are both bent and tangled together because the sofa is too short for them to fit lying down, and johnny knows for a fact that if they don’t move within the next five minutes, yukhei will get pins and needles.

and yet- “fine,” johnny says, failing to hide the smile that pulls at his face when yukhei whoops triumphantly and kisses clumsily at johnny’s collarbone. “i’m not letting you miss work, though.”

“i know,” yukhei assures, breath coming out warm against johnny’s skin.

 

*

 

it’s far past the time johnny had said he’d get to mark’s when he finally knocks on the door. his train had been delayed, and he tries not to sound as grumpy as he feels when he greets mark.

“we’re gonna start the movie in a bit,” mark tells him as johnny kicks off his shoes. “donghyuck and jaemin are playing mario kart first.”

“i’ll watch,” johnny says, because there’s nothing like donghyuck and jaemin (and mark and renjun, inevitably) fighting over who blue-shelled who.

except as he sits down on mark’s ratty old armchair he sees someone he’s not familiar with and, before he can ask, the guy meets his eyes and says, “hey! i’m lucas. want one?”

lucas is holding out a badly rolled cigarette, and johnny takes it despite himself.

 

~

 

johnny only finds out that lucas is just a nickname after they’ve been texting on and off for a week.

“he says yukhei”, taeyong explains over coffee on one of his rare days off. “but sicheng and kun call him xuxi. only mark calls him lucas.”

 

_me_

hey xuxi

_lucas???_

u finally heard haha

_me_

a week isn’t that long

i don’t know a lot about you

_lucas???_

do u wanna

 

~

 

the summer is sticky, humid and far too hot, and johnny has been living in tank tops and gym shorts for the past week. he would have stayed at home with his fan if it were up to him, but his friends are insistent.

“hyung, you had to come: we need tall people!” renjun explains, bouncing up and down excitedly.

johnny looks renjun over from head to toe - it takes less than a second - and agrees.

“but _why_ are we doing a basketball tournament?”

 

he gets put on a team with renjun, ten, taeyong, and taeil. johnny’s position is raising the average height. yukhei is used the same way, the tallest person in his group by far. johnny hadn’t really realised it before, but yukhei is _tall_ , perfectly proportionate, all long legs and big hands and now that johnny has noticed he doesn’t think he’ll be able to forget.

“focus,” ten hisses, digging his elbow into johnny’s stomach and making him wince. “if we win we don’t have to pay for dinner.”

that incentive should be enough considering how much it costs to buy food for 18 young men, and johnny tries really, really hard to play well (if only to avoid ten’s wrath), but they’re against yukhei’s team first. yukhei struggles with korean but he’s clearly played basketball before, a cocky smile on his face the second they start.

johnny has no idea what the score is. he doesn’t even know where the ball is. yukhei took his shirt off and johnny stopped being able to think. because johnny has seen attractive men before, and he’s been with attractive men before, but yukhei is on a whole other level. he’s so pretty, even sweaty and panting and red in the face.

yukhei’s got the ball, now, and shoots and misses. everyone on his team groans, but he throws his head back and laughs. he’s got a wild laugh, pulls faces as he does it, and chen le’s laughter joins him almost instantly.

johnny doesn’t know who does it, because he’s still a little zoned out thinking about yukhei’s mouth, but the basketball makes a dull thunking sound as it collides with the side of his head. his friends are bastards: they all laugh at him, play not stopping to see if he’s okay.

it’s only yukhei who says anything, jogging backwards with a crooked grin on his face and telling johnny, in english, “catch up, man.”

 

~

 

in retrospect, it was obvious. it’s too easy to get caught up in your own thoughts, to miss what’s right in front of you, and johnny tries not to feel too much regret for wasted time when yukhei presses him up against the wall of the shitty bar they’re in and kisses him.

yukhei’s hands are as stupidly big as they look, and up this close johnny is now sure that yukhei is just a little taller. his lips are soft and he tastes like a cocktail.

“i like you,” yukhei says, and johnny can feel the words vibrate in the air between them. he’s never seen yukhei look unsure before.

“really?” he blurts out, his mind alcohol-loosened and unguarded.

yukhei’s laugh says that johnny should have known this for a while.

 

*

 

he gets to work on time - johnny makes sure of it, kicking him off the sofa and threatening to lock yukhei out if he didn’t get going - but he’s back late. yukhei lives with jungwoo, but he’s at johnny’s more often than not. johnny had a spare key made for yukhei three weeks ago. he’ll give it to him some day.

the knock on the door jolts johnny out of his half-asleep state, and he’ll deny it but he scrambles to answer it, disgustingly eager to see and touch and hold yukhei already.

“sorry,” yukhei says, hair damp from the drizzle, eyes drooping with tiredness.

“it’s fine,” johnny says, because it is.

**Author's Note:**

> the first and last parts are in the present, and the others in between are different times just in case that wasn't clear.
> 
> thank you for reading! i don't think this pairing is popular at all but i love them;;


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